How to Train Your Dragon : The Hidden World

How to Train Your Dragon has been a family favorite of ours since it came out in 2010. Back then it was a fun movie that both my husband and I loved since we were without a child at that point. When our son was old enough to watch movies, How to Train Your Dragon was pretty high on that list. I mean what’s not to love about adorable dragons, right??? HTTYD is about Hiccup, a young Viking who is pretty again the dragon-hunting ways of his village and prefers to show how humans can coexist with the beasts especially with his newfound fire-breathing friend, Toothless Through the original movie and the sequel, the storyline continued seamlessly as well as the end of this movie series, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World. One of my favorite parts of this movie franchise is the empowering dialogue which comes through Hiccup as an environmental activist and Astrid as a feminist.

Jay Baruchel and America Ferrara

me and Toothless casually hanging out at Dreamworks Animation

How cute are these Night and Light Fury Cupcakes?

During the press junket for HTTYD The Hidden World, we had the opportunity to chat with Jay Baruchel (voice of Hiccup) and America Ferrara (voice of Astrid) and get their take on being a part of one of Dreamworks Animations biggest successes.

First, let’s talk about the evolution of Hiccup over the years:

The world he is in changes every single movie, yet somehow he always finds a way to have the courage to be the person to meet that moment. This theme translates right on over to our lives, the world is forever changing and the only certainty we will ever have is that the world is changing. Jay Baruchel who voices Hiccup says that much like his character, he had a hard time as a kid finding his place. He also says that he likes to think he is as principled as his character…well at the very least he is definitely as stubborn.

Now on to Astrid:

America Ferrara who voices Astrid said that much like her character she likes to think of herself as fearless, centered and aware. She is also physically sound as she trains for triathlons which to me is pretty much like dragon training. America loves that she is always pulling Hiccup back and reminding him of their equality and of what really matters. Her favorite scene from The Hidden World was …. *** SPOILER ALERT*** when Hiccup was willing to sacrifice himself to save Toothless so he could have a life with Light Fury. It was cinematic beauty, visual poetry…it was serious a tear jerker!

A fun tidbit from the press junket about Jay and America;s dream Hidden World:

Jay: His basement in current form

America: Soft bean bags for naps, being able to sleep in since she just had a baby, popcorn, sour patch kids and a Netflix screen (my kind of world too)

It honestly feels like we have grown up with Hiccup, so when the movie ended it felt hard to say goodbye to the characters…we all know they will continue to live on in our hearts.